Disappearance Beyond Recall: A Social Context for Bronze Age Aurochs Extinction in Britain?

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 107-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Evans
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Species Loss ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age

The interest which attaches to the history of extinct British animals can only be equalled by the regret which must be felt, by all true naturalists, at theirdisappearance beyond recallfrom our fauna (Harting 1880, 3; emphasis added).The implications of pit-deposits containing aurochs/Bos primigeniusskulls dating to the Bronze Age, found in two recent excavations in Bedfordshire are outlined. Involving a review of related findings in south-eastern England, these serve as a platform to consider the dynamics of aurochs extinction, which is held to have occurred in Britain by the middle–later centuries of the 2nd millenniumbc. It should be stressed that, although consulting many ‘expert’ colleagues, this paper is not written from a faunal remains-specialist perspective. It is essentially discursive and primarily intended to highlight a significant site-recovery trend. It reflects, moreover, on issues of broad social relevance. Holocene human-induced extinctions have both an inherent curiosity and poignancy. Indeed now, faced with currently threatened mass-species loss, they can even involve – beyond regret – a sense of cumulative guilt.

scholarly journals The moulds from Velebit and European bronze age metal anvils

Starinar ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 139-182
Author(s):  
Barbara Armbruster ◽  
Albrecht Jockenhövel ◽  
Aleksandar Kapuran ◽  
Rasko Ramadanski
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
General Role ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Significant Class

During the first excavations of the cemetery dating from the Bronze Age and Early Antiquity in the village of Velebit near Kanjiza (Northern Serbia) one of the excavated artefacts was found to belong to a used and broken stone mould for casting anvils. However, without an expert archaeologist to supervise the recovery of this find, which remained unknown for decades after its discovery, as a starting point, the authors of this article present a synthesis that takes into account several aspects of this significant class of metalcraft object. This proceeds from the history of the excavation to the general role of European Bronze Age anvils in gold and bronze metalworking, and then further on to their typological, terminological, chronological and functional analysis and to their long-range distribution as a sign of an interregional network of craftsmen, including their social context and symbolism.

scholarly journals Redefining the role of metal production during the Bronze Age of south-eastern Iberia. The mines of eastern Sierra Morena

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 138-153
Author(s):  
Luis Arboledas-Martínez ◽  
Eva Alarcón-García
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
New Mineral ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Sierra Morena ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Metallurgical Activities

Researchers have traditionally paid little attention to mining by Bronze Age communities in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula. This has changed recently due to the identification of new mineral exploitations from this period during the archaeo-mining surveys carried out in the Rumblar and Jándula valleys in the Sierra Morena Mountains between 2009-2014, as well as the excavation of the José Martín Palacios mine (Baños de la Encina, Jaén). The analysis of the archaeological evidence and the archaeometric results reveal the importance of mining and metallurgical activities undertaken by the communities that inhabited the region between 2200 and 900 cal. BC, when it became one of the most important copper and silver production centers during the Late Prehistory of south-eastern Iberia.

SOME COMMENTS ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OXUS CIVILIZATION IN THEARABIAN GULF

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. 97-103
Author(s):  
Khayitmurod Khurramov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Unique Material ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
Marine Shell

It is known that the Oxus civilization in the Bronze Age, with its unique material culture, interacted with a number of cultural countries: the Indian Valley, Iran, Mesopotamia, Elam and other regions. As a result of these relationships, interactions and interactions are formed. Archaeologists turn to archaeological and written sources to shed light on the historiography of this period. This research is devoted to the history of cultural relations between the Oxus civilization and the countries of the Arabian Gulf in the Bronze Age. The article highlights cultural ties based on an analysis of stamp seals and unique artifacts.Key words: Dilmun, Magan, marine shell, Arabian Gulf, Bahrain, Mesopotamia, Harappa, Gonur, Afghanistan

ARCHAEOLOGISTS M.P. GRYAZNOV, V.I. MATYUSHCHENKO AND THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 62-69
Author(s):  
MARSADOLOV L. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
The State ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age

Many decades the life and work of Mikhail Petrovich Gryaznov (1902-1984) was connected with the State Hermitage museum. Long-term friendship bound him with Vladimir Ivanovich Matyushchenko (1928-2005). These archaeologists were lucky in the excavations in the field and in the office behind a desk that was reached by stressful daily work. The most valuable materials from the excavations of M.P. Gryaznov were transferred to the Hermitage (Pazyryk-1, Arzhan-1), and in the museum's funds he taught a course in tracology for students of LSU. Archaeologists are well aware of the scientific works of VI. Matyushchenko on the history of Siberian archaeology, materials from excavations of the Bronze Age sites in the Tomsk and Omsk regions (Elovka, Rostovka and others), and the mounds of the Xiongnu era in Sidorovka. This article briefly discusses the main stages of M.P. Gryaznov's work in the Hermitage and his further relations with this museum. The author of the article was familiar with M.P. Gryaznov and VI. Matyushchenko, studied archaeology with them, gained experience and repeatedly helped them, both in the Hermitage and beyond. Keywords: M.P Gryaznov, V.I. Matyushchenko, hermitage, Pazyryk, Arzhan, state award

An Early British Interest in Knossos

1987 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinclair Hood
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Early History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Eyewitness Account ◽  
Sanctuary Of Demeter ◽  
The Bronze Age

Four letters written in 1879, 1880, and 1884, by Thomas B. Sandwith, the British Consul in Crete, to the British Museum throw light on the early history of the site of the Bronze Age palace at Knossos. The first of these letters (1879) contains a brief eyewitness account of the excavations of Minos Kalokairinos there in the winter of 1878–9 and urges the British Museum to continue his work. The two later letters (1884) deal with his gift of a pithos from the palace excavations to the Museum. The letters also refer to clandestine excavations in the Sanctuary of Demeter at Knossos.

Household Economy, Long-Term Change, and Social Transformation: The Bronze Age Political Economy of Northwestern Europe

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Kristiansen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Term Change ◽  
History Of Vegetation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Triggering Factor ◽  
The Bronze Age

In this article I examine how long-term economic strategies in the Bronze Age of northern Europe between 2300 and 500 BCE transformed the environment and thus created and imposed new ecological constraints that finally led to a major social transformation and a "dark age" that became the start of the new long-term cycle of the Iron Age. During the last 30 years hundreds of well-excavated farmsteads and houses from south Scandinavia have made it possible to reconstruct the size and the structure of settlement and individual households through time. During the same period numerous pollen diagrams have established the history of vegetation and environmental changes. I will therefore use the size of individual households or farmsteads as a parameter of economic strength, and to this I add the role of metal as a triggering factor in the economy, especially after 1700 BCE when a full-scale bronze technology was adopted and after 500 BCE when it was replaced by iron as the dominant metal. A major theoretical concern is the relationships between micro- and macroeconomic changes and how they articulated in economic practices. Finally the nature of the "dark age" during the beginning of the Iron Age will be discussed, referring to Sing Chew's use of the concept (Chew 2006).

scholarly journals Ancient DNA shows domestic horses were introduced in the southern Caucasus and Anatolia during the Bronze Age

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (38) ◽  
pp. eabb0030
Author(s):  
Silvia Guimaraes ◽  
Benjamin S. Arbuckle ◽  
Joris Peters ◽  
Sarah E. Adcock ◽  
Hijlke Buitenhuis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Domestic Horses ◽  
Third Millennium Bce ◽  
History Of ◽  
Southern Caucasus ◽  
The Bronze Age

Despite the important roles that horses have played in human history, particularly in the spread of languages and cultures, and correspondingly intensive research on this topic, the origin of domestic horses remains elusive. Several domestication centers have been hypothesized, but most of these have been invalidated through recent paleogenetic studies. Anatolia is a region with an extended history of horse exploitation that has been considered a candidate for the origins of domestic horses but has never been subject to detailed investigation. Our paleogenetic study of pre- and protohistoric horses in Anatolia and the Caucasus, based on a diachronic sample from the early Neolithic to the Iron Age (~8000 to ~1000 BCE) that encompasses the presumed transition from wild to domestic horses (4000 to 3000 BCE), shows the rapid and large-scale introduction of domestic horses at the end of the third millennium BCE. Thus, our results argue strongly against autochthonous independent domestication of horses in Anatolia.

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